探秘华大基因的成功密码

In 2010, Bill Gates visited an unremarkable building in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Shenzhen, China. With row after row of high-tech machinery humming inside, the place could easily be mistaken for an anonymous data warehouse.

2010年，比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)参观了中国深圳郊区一个工业区的一栋寻常建筑。里面一排排的高科技机器在嗡嗡作响，这个地方可能很容易被误认为一个无名数据仓库。

But Mr Gates and Ray Yip, head of the Gates Foundation’s China operation, saw something else that day. As they toured the BGI headquarters, the two men were stunned by the ambition of the scientists working at the biotech company. Inside, more than 150 state of the art genetic sequencing machines were analysing the equivalent of thousands of human genomes a day.

但那天，盖茨和盖茨基金会(Gates Foundation)中国项目主任叶雷(Ray Yip)看到了其他的东西。当他们参观华大基因(BGI)总部时，在这家生物科技公司工作的科学家们的伟大理想让二人震惊不已。在该公司里面，150多台先进基因测序仪正每天对数千个人类基因组进行分析。

The company is working towards a goal of building a huge library based on the DNA of many millions of people. BGI executives see this not as the end-game, but as the springboard for new drug discoveries, advanced genetic research and a transformation of public health policy.

该公司的目标是基于数百万人的DNA建立一个大规模数据库。华大基因的高管不认为这是终极目标，而是新药开发、高级基因研究和公共健康政策改革的一个跳板。

“We were taken aback,” Mr Yip recalls. “We never thought we would find such an out-of-the-box approach. They are in their own league — open and liberal.”

“我们吃了一惊，”叶雷回忆道，“我们从没想过我们会发现这么具有创意的方式。他们独树一帜，开放且自由。”

Since the initial visit, Gates Foundation staffers have partnered BGI on various genetic research projects, from sequencing the rice genome to collaborating on the cancer genome project. The Gates Foundation has also joined a long list of groups providing funds to BGI — a list that also included Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm. “Most people only see them as a service provider for DNA analysis,” says a BGI investor. “It is the database they are building that will make them formidable.”

自从初次参观以来，盖茨基金会的工作人员一直与华大基因在各种基因组研究项目上展开合作，从大米基因组测序到癌症基因组项目合作。盖茨基金会还与很多组织一道，向华大基因提供资金，其中还包括硅谷风投企业红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)。“多数人只是将他们视为DNA分析服务提供商，”华大基因的一位投资者表示，“实际上，他们正在建立的数据库将让他们变得强大可畏。”

BGI’s backers say the company symbolises a new type of Chinese tech company. Chinese companies have long been regarded as copycats — if not outright thieves — when it comes to innovation and intellectual property. Westerners generally discount intellectual property creation in China.

华大基因的投资者表示，该公司代表着中国新型科技公司。长期以来，在创新和知识产权方面，中国企业一直被视为抄袭者（如果不是彻头彻尾的偷窃者的话）。西方人普遍看不起中国的知识产权创造。

But BGI, along with other companies in Shenzhen, may soon change that image. Many of BGI’s executives have been partly educated abroad and have little respect for the Chinese establishment or the established way of doing things in the country. Its scientists contribute to international journals and regularly file for patents. It partners with reputable institutions in Europe and the US and has a record that international competitors have come to respect.

然而，华大基因与深圳其他企业一道，可能会很快改变这种形象。华大基因的很多高管在国外受过教育，不那么畏惧体制或者看重中国的既成经商模式。该公司的科学家为国际杂志撰文，并经常申请专利。该公司与欧美有名望的机构合作，其研究成果也开始得到国际竞争对手的尊重。

“We represent a new model of an international Chinese organisation,” says Wang Jun, BGI’s young chief executive, a graduate of Beijing University in artificial intelligence. “China has a legitimate shot to be a lead player on the international stage. Our technology can change the world.”

“我们代表着中国新型国际企业，”华大基因年轻的首席执行官王俊表示，“中国有合理机会成为世界舞台上的佼佼者。我们的技术可以改变世界。”王俊毕业于北京大学生命科学系，研究人工智能。

The evolution of BGI is not a straightforward story of Chinese ascendancy, or a victory for China’s model of state capitalism. In fact, BGI has an ambivalent relationship with Beijing and represents a challenge to the Chinese model of education and research.

华大基因的发展并非一个简单的中国崛起的故事，也不代表着中国国家资本主义模式的成功。实际上，华大基因与北京方面有着矛盾的关系，代表着对中国教育和研究模式的挑战。

The company, originally known as the Beijing Genomics Institute, was created under the aegis of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. (It was one of the participants in the Human Genome Project.) But its success recently has come despite Beijing as much as because of it.

该公司最初名为北京华大基因研究中心(Beijing Genomics Institute)，在中国科学院的支持下创建。（该中心是人类基因组计划(Human Genome Project)的参与者之一。）但对于其近来的成功，来自北京的影响有好有坏。

“You can be brilliant here but you can be more brilliant in the US,” says one staffer who has lived and worked in the US for extensive periods of time. “It’s harder to be creative in the context of the mindset here.”

“在这里，你可能很聪明，但在美国你可能会变得更聪明，”一位曾在美国生活和工作很长时间的员工表示，“在这里的思维环境下，很难有创造力。”

That may be an exaggeration, but the structure of China’s education system is seen by many critics as a constraint on innovation. “The system is very incestuous,” says one Beijing-based academic. “It is very political. You have two choices, either to leave China and thrive or to get to the point where you don’t need Beijing’s money.”

这可能有些夸大其词，但很多批评者认为中国教育体系的结构会限制创新。“中国体系非常排外，”一位驻北京学者表示，“政治性非常强。你有两个选择，要么离开中国蓬勃发展，要么达到不需要北京的钱的地步。”

However, the prominence of BGI holds out the hope that China can attract back the best students who often choose to stay abroad after graduating from top US universities.

然而，华大基因的卓越表现给人们带来希望：中国可能会吸引那些在美国一流大学毕业后通常选择继续待在国外的最优秀学生回国。

BGI decided to decamp from Beijing in 2007, choosing to set up its headquarters in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong. “Shenzhen is as far from Beijing as you can get,” says one BGI investor about the move, which he saw as a move by the company to free itself from political constraints. “You can’t be independent in Beijing.”

2007年，华大基因决定离开北京，选择在与香港毗邻的深圳设立总部。“深圳距离北京很远，”华大基因一位投资者在谈到总部搬迁时表示，他认为此举是要让该公司脱离政治控制。“在北京，你不可能独立。”

Given Shenzhen’s history, this is perhaps not surprising. Shenzhen was designated a “special economic zone” where the first experiments with capitalism took place after Deng Xiaoping began to liberalise the Chinese economy.

鉴于深圳的历史，这或许并不令人意外。深圳被列为“经济特区”，在邓小平开始在中国实行改革开放后，这里成为资本主义的首个实验区。

Toy companies and running shoe makers built their sprawling factories there, and workers migrated to the new city. Now, many of those factories are shuttered and their operations moved to locations where labour is cheaper, costs lower and pollution is less of a consideration.

玩具企业和跑步鞋制造商将大型工厂设在那里，工人也纷纷迁移到这个新城市。如今，这些工厂中很多已关闭，它们的业务则迁到劳动力更便宜、成本更低且对污染问题不那么重视的地区。

Today, Shenzhen is the technology incubator for China. Its longer experience of capitalism and its proximity to Hong Kong have contributed to the speed of the city’s transition. It is home to BYD, the Chinese maker of electric vehicles, Huawei Technologies, the telecoms equipment maker, and Tencent, the internet portal. Local government policy played a big role in the transition. Shenzhen provides grants to promising companies and offers them cheap space, creating an ecosystem which extends to Hong Kong. Shenzhen was originally the home of many tech assembly businesses, so it also had a pool of people familiar with the sector who launched start-ups. Wealthy entrepreneurs then spawned a venture capital industry.

如今，深圳成为了中国的科技孵化器。深圳时间较长的资本主义经验以及毗邻香港的地理位置，加快了深圳转型的速度。中国电动汽车制造商比亚迪(BYD)、电信设备制造商华为技术(Huawei Technologies)以及互联网门户腾讯(Tencent)的总部都设在这里。地方政府政策也在这种转型中扮演了重要的角色。深圳向具备潜力的企业提供拨款，并为他们提供廉价的办公场所，同时缔造了一个延伸到香港的生态系统。深圳最初是很多科技组装企业的所在地，因此这里也聚集了许多熟悉这个行业的人才，他们开办了很多初创企业。接着，这些富有的企业家又孕育出风投行业。

The city’s stock exchange for smaller, younger businesses — offering a contrast to Shanghai, which prioritised the big state-owned enterprises — allowed venture capitalists to list the companies they invested in, creating a virtuous circle that keeps expanding. Some of the best universities also established outposts in Shenzhen.

针对规模较小且较为年轻的企业的深圳证交所（与侧重大型国有企业的上海证交所形成对比），让风投资本家可以将他们投资的企业上市，创造一个持续发展的良性循环。一些最优秀的大学还在深圳设立了校区。

Shenzhen attracts the restless and the ambitious, and the mavericks — among them the founders of BGI. Several dropped out of university, while others never had formal higher education because the cultural revolution interrupted their lives. Few are members of the ruling Communist party.

深圳吸引着那些不甘于平淡且雄心勃勃的人，还吸引了那些特立独行的人，其中就包括华大基因的这些创始人。其中有几人在上大学时辍学，还有人没有接受过正规高等教育，因为“文化大革命”扰乱了他们的生活。几乎没有人是党员。

“They exiled themselves to be far away from the traditional government and scientific funding establishment,” says one investor. “And they have only been forgiven [by the establishment] because they make China look good.”

“他们自我放逐，远离了传统的政府和科研资金体制，”一位投资者表示，“（当局）原谅了他们，仅仅是因为他们让中国面子上有光。”

The walls of BGI’s austere building are covered with photos of everything from cloned pigs to Wang Jian, the company’s co-founder, on Mount Everest. Mr Wang spent years abroad, including as a senior research fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. Another co-founder, Yang Huanming, also studied abroad, receiving his PhD at the University of Copenhagen.

在华大基因简单朴素的办公楼里，墙上悬挂着各种照片，从克隆猪到登上珠峰的该公司联合创始人汪建。汪建在国外生活多年，包括在西雅图的华盛顿大学(University of Washington)担任高级研究员。另一位创始人杨焕明也曾在国外留学，他在哥本哈根大学(University of Copenhagen)获得博士学位。

China has a number of advantages in the field of genomics. DNA sequencing is more about computer power and data mining than it is about breakthroughs in laboratories, investors say. Given its population of 1.35bn people, the potential database in China is larger than anywhere else. The more extensive the database a company has, the stronger the competitive advantage. It is also cheaper to gather and analyse information. Moreover, BGI has about 2,000 members of staff with PhDs, perhaps the largest concentration of any company in China, and they are employed at a fraction of what that assemblage of brains would cost in the US.

在基因组领域，中国具备很多优势。投资者表示，DNA测序更多在于电脑计算能力和数据挖掘，而不是实验室突破。鉴于中国拥有13.5亿人口，中国的潜在数据库超过全球任何其他国家。一家公司拥有的数据库越大，其竞争优势也就越大，信息收集和分析的成本也更低。另外，华大基因拥有大约2000名博士学位员工，大概是中国企业中最多的，而将这么多人才聚集到一起，华大基因需要付出的薪资只是美国企业的几分之一。

Yet there are also potential issues that make outsiders uneasy, especially the lack of strong privacy protection, intellectual property rights and strict protocols regarding clinical trials. But BGI and its backers insist that it complies with best practice in the industry, although some note that the lack of IP protection means that ideas can be implemented more quickly.

然而，还有一些潜在的问题让外部人士感到不安，特别是缺乏强大的隐私保护、知识产权以及与临床实验有关的严格协议。但华大基因及其支持者坚称，该公司遵循着该行业的最佳惯例，尽管一些人指出，缺乏知识产权保护意味着创意可以更快速地实施。

While BGI’s roots are in China, it is seeking to become more international. In 2013, it acquired Complete Genomics, a DNA sequencing company based in Mountain View, California for almost $118m. That deal was consummated in the face of a belated counter offer from Illumina, a rival of Complete Genomics currently worth about $28bn. It also overcame political opposition, marking the first time a Chinese company successfully acquired a publicly traded US company.

尽管华大基因的根基在中国，但该公司正努力变得更国际化。2013年，该公司以近1.18亿美元的价格收购总部位于加州山景城的DNA测序公司Complete Genomics。在Complete Genomics竞争对手Illumina（目前市值为280亿美元左右）迟迟才发出竞购要约后，这笔交易圆满落幕。华大基因还克服了政治阻力，成为首家成功收购美国上市公司的中国企业。

BGI was the single biggest customer for Illumina, accounting for as much as 40 per cent of its DNA sequencing machine orders, for equipment that cost up to $500,000 apiece. That may change with the purchase of Complete Genomics as BGI plans to introduce a new sequencing machine.

华大基因是Illumina最大单一客户，占其DNA测序仪订单的40%，每台设备售价高达50万美元。在收购Complete Genomics后，这可能会发生变化，因为华大基因计划引入新型基因测序仪。

Other challenges lie ahead for BGI. It is an unusual company, with one foot in the world of pure research and another seeking to develop commercial applications for its work. Such structures were once more common in the US technology industry, where researchers at Bell Labs and Xerox Parc were given funding and time to pursue ambitious research projects. In recent years, US investors have been less willing to subsidise large research projects that may not pay off.

华大基因未来还面临着其他挑战。它是一家不同寻常的公司，一只脚踏入纯研究领域，另一只脚则希望迈入研究成果的商业应用开发。在美国科技行业，这种结构曾经更为常见，贝尔实验室(Bell Labs)和施乐帕克研究中心(Xerox Parc)的研究人员就曾获得资金和时间去展开雄心勃勃的研究项目。最近几年，美国投资者则不那么愿意为那些可能不会盈利的大型研究项目提供补贴。

Mr Wang says he understands this tension. “If we are too commercial, we lose sight of the future,” he says. “But if we are only thinking of the future, that isn’t suitable either.” That dual mandate means that it is not easy to set priorities. They must be visionaries and business strategists at the same time, balancing the demands of basic research with more commercial undertakings such as developing diagnostic kits and tests.

汪建表示，他理解这种紧张关系。“如果我们过于商业化，我们会看不到未来，”他表示，“但如果我们只考虑未来，也不合适。”这种双重任务意味着，确定哪个优先并不容易。他们必须既有梦想，同时又要成为商业战略家，在基础研究的要求和更多的商业行为之间实现平衡，例如开发诊断设备和测试。